Filling the skills gap is crucial

UK farmers’ top priority over the next 12 months will be recruiting the skills and talent capable of using the latest technology as the industry faces up to a new more competitive future.

That was the top finding from a study commissioned by Mcdonald’s UK and conducted by the National Farm Research Unit. Almost nine out of ten farmers in the survey said recruiting the right skills and talent would be the key to making their own businesses and UK farming globally competitive.

In another finding, more than half those surveyed believed technology would impact their business over the next five years, requiring new sets of skills and talent.

Half of farmers (48 per cent) reported they were looking to use or were already using satellite mapping while 41 per cent said they saw the benefits of precision farming techniques which use sensors and GPS to control machinery thus ensuring crops and livestock get exactly what they need.

Around a third of those surveyed were equally positive about big data analytics (39 per cent) and remote sensing technology (28 per cent) both of which can be based on real-time measurements on crop height and weather conditions.

Achieving the skills and knowledge to use all this technology would involve attracting the talent from outside the industry said two-thirds of respondents while one in six said they were prepared to recruit from non-farming backgrounds in the next five years.

Connor Mcveigh of Mcdonald’s UK said: “The farming industry is facing some big challenges but it’s encouraging to see that, despite this, farmers are being front-footed in their investment in technology and skills.”